Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/554642
steel to the intended job. And right now would be a good time to point out the qualities that make a knife good for one task and bad for another. First is the steel itself. The molecular structure of the metal and its concomitant hardness both influence the ability of the blade to cut a given material. The powdered ZDP-189, for example, is so hard that its only practical function is as a kitchen knife. But even two knives with the same Rockwell hardness can cut differently if they are made of different steels and have different molecular structure. Seen microscopically, the cutting edge of one blade of 60 Rockwell might look very smooth, making it own knives, much of what Dave does involves laborious and painstaking testing. New steels are constantly being developed, forging techniques are being refined, and in some extreme cases, entirely new ways of thinking about steel have changed the knife-making process. For example, the Japanese recently developed a powdered steel called ZDP-189 that has an extraordinary Rockwell hardness of 67. The Rockwell scale is like the Richter scale: it increases or decreases in geometric progression, so that while three or four points may not sound like much, it can make a profound difference in the overall performance of the blade. For purposes of comparison, the average high-end, mass-produced knife typically has a Rockwell hardness between 55 and 58, while the average custom knife runs from 60 to 61. Once you get much beyond that, however, the steel becomes increasingly brittle and may be, depending on the thickness of the blade, very difficult to sharpen. Dave makes some specialty knives for his own leather-making business that run around 63, but those are blades that live on his work bench, not on his belt. But the reason Dave spends so much time testing is in order to match the hardness, different steels lend themselves to different tasks, which is why Dave tests his blades and sends them out for various professionals to test at their various jobs. Then there is the profile of the blade, which means precisely that: what you see when you hold up the blade. Think of the outline of a drop-point versus a fighting dagger versus a Green River skinner. The belly is the bottom, cutting-edge portion of that profile. Compare a Samurai sword to a wavy-edged kris sword of the Indonesian archipelago or the downward curving kukri blade of Nepal; all of them are built to kill you and all of them will kill you deader than ach of these knives has Damascus blades with a Rockwell hardness of 60. This knife features a handle of desert ironwood. Top: This ornately crafted knife has a handle of Merino sheep-horn and file-work on the spine of the blade. E S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 7 6 a mackerel, but they are used in very different ways to get the job done. Every blade has two bevels. Yes, bevels, plural. The primary bevel runs from the spine of the blade down to the secondary bevel, which is the actual cutting edge, the last 1 /10 to 1 /8 inch that you sharpen. There is the distal taper, the gradual narrowing from the center of the blade (where the ricasso is) to the point, an angle that is determined by the length of the blade and its intended use. One of the most important qualities is the balance of the knife, how its weight is distributed relative to its overall length. And finally, perhaps the most subjective elements of all, are the shape and material of the handle. Those can affect both balance and—most importantly—how the knife feels in your hand. And as Bob Loveless said, it should feel as comfortable as, well, you know. ideal for skinning, say, while another steel of the same hardness might look like a microscopic saw, making it much better suited for cutting rope. And while sharpening has more effect on a cutting edge than Rockwell